The Cornish Project
by martha smith
Summary: Innocent bystanders are disappearing in Cornwall. A mother and her lost sons. A tall skinny man in a suit with great hair. Old faces, returning form God knows where. Post JE, with many many reunions. Title and summary suck, I know
1. Green

**AN: Huzzah, I've posted this! Big shout out to azurefalls who is an amazing writer and my beta for this story. That means that she has to put up with my ramblings and somehow help me turn them into a plot. Anywho, here's the first chapter! (duh...) Lots of old friends/foes/others turning up, but I won't say yet. *feels enigmatic***

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DOCTOR WHO. There, I've said it. I do (vaguely) own Angela, Rob and Jake though. Does it count if I stole the names from somewhere?**

Jake and Rob were out late again. They'd promised they'd be back at the tent by four, but it was gone four already and the beach was nearly half an hour's walk away. Angela started walking back, sighing. Already, the neighbours, in their five-room tent with a TV and ensuite, had started tutting and shaking their heads at "_Those two ragamuffins from that tiny hiker's tent next door…why the mother (no father, of course, typical) lets them run wild like that I'd like to know…" _

Well, she didn't actually _know_ that that was what they were thinking, but she could guess. Everyone who saw her with the boys, muddling along as best as they could, immediately thought "Teenage mum, probably still on the dole" and dismissed the thought. She just didn't have the energy to fight back and bring up the car crash again, especially not in front of Jake and Rob. God knows they had enough on their plates at the moment, what with everyone from her mother-in-law to Social Services talking kindly to them and trying to tell her that she couldn't cope.

She'd better go see where they were.

"Jake…"

"What?" Jake was lying in the rubber boat, tired out from snorkelling.

"You do know it must be gone four, right?"  
"Oh. Yeah. So?"

"Well, Mum wanted us back at four…"

"So?"  
"Jake! Remember the last time we were out? Mum phoned the police!"  
"Oh, honestly, Rob, she overreacted and she knows it. Anyway, that was just after Dad-"  
"Shut UP! It has nothing to do with – with anything!"

Jake rolled his eyes. Ten year old brothers were hard work. They needed entertaining all the time, or they started worrying, remembering or crying.. He needed a diversion.

"Look! Down there!"

"What? Jake, what is it?

Jake had already jumped down into the deep green sea. Rob, after chewing his lip anxiously for a bit, tied the boat's rope round his ankle and dived after him..

When he felt the rope tighten, and there was still no sign of Jake, Rob started to get worried. He couldn't stay under for much longer, but what had Jake wanted to show him?

It was no good – he had to go up for some air.

But which way was up? The green was oppressive and all around him. Up? Down? Left? Right? The rope had stopped straining now, and distantly Rob felt the weight of the boat float downwards and onto his head. Then there was nothing, nothing but the green.

"Jake? Rob?"

Angela walked up and down the deserted beach, calling. She'd taken up the boys' clothes already – it was warm enough for them to walk back to the campsite in their swimming trunks. The sea, as far as the eye could see, was completely still and silent. Empty. The rubber boat was no where to be seen, along with her , there was another route back to the campsite… she'd have to walk up it; they were likely to be dawdling along some blackberry bush while she stood here and worried.

But if she had been a bit worried before, by the time she reached the campsite, Angela was downright scared. She raced past the shop, a blue police box, the caravans and the tents until she reached their plot. Deserted. She turned and raced back up to the shop – she'd seen a phone box there, she was sure of it.

Five minutes later, she was stood in the shop, arguing with the owner.  
"Look, my sons are _missing. _I need to phone the police – I saw a phone box, just outside, I swear!"

"Now, really. If there had _ever_ been a phone box outside my shop, don't you think I'd know by now?"  
"But it was _there_! It was – painted – blue…" Angela's voice trailed off. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure. It was like she knew what she was trying to say, but she didn't want to…

The shopkeeper stared at her.

"A blue… Phone box. You saw a phone box, painted blue, outside my shop." He was clearly fearing for her sanity by now. "Look, you can use my phone if you want, I'll just go get it…"  
As he disappeared behind a beaded curtain, the shop door jangled – then stopped. A tall, skinny man in a pinstripe suit and a shock of brown hair had just been about to leave, hands in pockets and clearly deep in concentration. Instead, he paused and bounced up to Angela..  
"Hello, I'm the Doctor. Sorry, but can I ask you some questions about your sons?"  
Angela gaped.  
"What? No! Who are you?"

"Oh! Sorry…" he rummaged in his suit pockets and pushed a blank sheet of paper in Angela's face "Scotland Yard!"

What? No, of course it wasn't blank, of course not… she saw a blurry picture, a string of ID numbers and the Scotland Yard logo.

"Oh. Um. OK. What do you need to know, sir?"

"Which beach did you leave them at? How old are they? Their names, your name, where are you staying?"

Angela blinked rapidly a few times, then launched into a description of Jake and Rob, and the beach they'd visited that day – St Rose's Bay, near Torquay. Something seemed to flicker across the Doctor's face when she said that, but he obviously pulled himself back together and ran out of the shop, just calling out a "Follow me, please!" before disappearing through the door. Angela threw an apologetic smile at the shop-keeper, who was standing there holding a mobile phone and looking quite dazed, and ran after him.

He was stood just around the corner, waiting impatiently. When he saw her, he gave her a sort of manic, childish grin and pelted off again at top speed, tugging her along by one hand.

They reached the bay in far less time than Angela's knees would have appreciated, and she showed the Doctor the spot where they'd spread out the towels and picnic earlier that day. He picked up a grain of sand between his thumb and forefinger, slipping on a pair of glasses as he did so and frowning.

"What's wrong? Doctor, what is it?"  
He looked up, tugging at one ear.  
"Nothing. Haven't a clue. But I look clever, don't I?" He did the manic grin again. Angela couldn't help it. Even though she was tired and worried, even though her sons were missing, even though they could have drowned for all she knew, she grinned too.

After pacing up and down the sands for a good twenty minutes, the Doctor fished a pair of swimming trunks out of his seemingly never-ending pocket, and disappeared behind a boulder. When he got back, Angela tried and failed to keep a straight face. The trunks were covered in Disney logos and pictures of lion cubs. When he saw her look, the Doctor grinned. Then he ran full pelt into the sea. Angela could only gape, shaking her head. The sun had been setting for a while, there were waves and undercurrents out there. Was this man completely insane?

Yes, she concluded. He probably was.

**Love it? Hate it? Not sure? Want to tell me?! REVIEWS are the reason for my very existance guys! That, and emails from azurefalls. But REVIEWS keep me going!!!!!!!!! Please?**


	2. Drifting

**AN: So much of this chapter is stolen from other books. Ah well, kudos (and cake) to whoever finds all the stolen bits of text! And tells me about it in a review! Dedicated to WeepingAngel123 for the review, and to SmithandJones for the subscription!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, sorry.**

_-13 years ago. Ish.-_

She…drifted. That was the only word for it. She did have a vague sense of time passing, and of the tiny bundle of…life?...in her arms, but apart from that…she drifted.

The grey landscape was never-ending and never-changing, pressed flat and dull by an infinity of nothing. Time (in that sense) did not exist here. Space did not exist here. Life did not exist here.

This was the end of all stories and the last of all worlds.

_-x-_

Or was it? After a millennia – or was it just a second? – she felt a change. A tear in the fabric of Nothing. Something – someone – was coming. The strange bundle of life in her arms moved and cried out. In opening them, Rose discovered her eyes again and looked down into the impossibly chocolate eyes of her daughter. Her daughter, whom she had killed. Rose felt tears pricking the insides of her eyelids, and shut them again.

That was when he spoke.

"Rose?"  
Her eyes flew open. There was a part of her, buried deep inside, that recognised this voice because of what it was. The rest of her had never seen this man before. He was youngish, she supposed, with dark brown eyes and close cropped dark hair. He was wearing a black suit which wasn't flamboyantly expensive, but well cut and obviously tailored to his body. He smiled, a kind smile. She couldn't help it – everything about him just invited her in. She smiled too.

"Yeah." Her voice felt strange. She had forgotten how to talk.  
"I can help. Do you want to go home?"  
Rose frowned. Everything inside her clammed up.  
"NO! No, not…not there."

He smiled reassuringly.  
"Of course. I meant _home _home."

Rose's eyes widened. Did he mean what she thought he meant? She hadn't been _there _in a while. Too long ago. She decided, in a moment, that she didn't care. She had wanted out, but not this. She nodded and took the proffered hand.

"Okay, but…who are you?"  
The man shook his head.  
"Doesn't matter."

**AN: So? What do you think? It's odd, I know, but important. Lots of things in it are. REVIEW please thank you i love you guys!!! **

**(Does flattery work?)**


	3. Just Another Day at the Hub

**A/N:**

**There. It's a bit short I know but I had to avoid the peas. Ask Azure. My lovely lovely pea-wielding beta. (azurefalls if you want to get picky about usernames)  
**

"So," said Martha, plonking her bag on her desk and turning round to face the others. "Anything up today?"

She'd just arrived, slightly late, but nothing seemed to be happening. All the others shook their heads.

"He's holed up in there," said Mickey Smith, nodding with his head towards Jack's office. "No idea why… well, I _would _guess towards the obvious, but these two are both out here." He added with an impish grin, prompting a blush and a frown from Ianto and a blush and an "Oi!" from Gwen.

Just then, Jack bounced out of his office, looking harried.

"We've got some sort of a… thing... situation… going on in Cornwall."  
The team exchanged glances.

"Right…" said Martha slowly. "Wouldn't that be UNIT's business though? Don't we just keep an eye on Cardiff and the rift and stuff?"

She was still vaguely new at TW3, along with Mickey, but so far they'd only dealt with threats coming through the Cardiff rift. She looked over to Gwen and Ianto for confirmation, and they were both nodding confusedly. She turned back to Jack.

"Well…" said Jack. "Usually, yeah. But look what a CCTV picked up in Penzance!" He held out a print-out to Martha. She gaped wordlessly and passed it on to Mickey who started laughing madly and showed it to the other two. There, in the middle of a pleasingly quaint Cornish high street, was the TARDIS.

"Bring it on! Cornwall, yeah?" said Mickey excitedly. Jack raised his eyebrows and nodded.

"Anyway, I could do with a tan."

Ten minutes later, the SUV was loaded and they were off. Jack confessed quickly that there _wasn't_ any "thing… situation". He just wanted to see the Doctor, Donna and Rose again. Martha and Mickey exchanged a wry smile.

_Good old Rose,_ thought Martha. She was fairly sure that Mickey was at that exact moment thinking _Good old Doctor_.

But any hard feelings were soon forgotten as the SUV cruised southwards. Jack, rather randomly, had found an ABBA Karaoke CD. They stopped for a pit stop of chips (Mickey and Jack started grinning quite worryingly at that) and sandwiches, before crossing the border into England, singing _Dancing Queen _all the way.

Martha leant her head against the comfy leather seat and closed her eyes.

She loved her job.

**A.N: ****I know my Jack sounds like the Doctor. I just can't write him properly. Sorry.**

**...If you want to tell me how to improve my Jack-writing, or leave any sort of comment whatsoever, click on that friendly green button there. Go on. You know you want to...  
**


	4. Bliss

**A/N:**

**To me, an Aga is the biggest EVER giveaway that just screams "These people have too much money!" at you. Sorry if you have an Aga.**

**Disclaimer: Forgot to do this last chapter. Oh well. I do not, and have never, annd will probably never own Doctor Who.  
**

"Rosie? ROOOSE!"

Rose opened her eyes and stretched luxuriously under the soft quilt. The sun streamed in, dappled by the branches of an apple tree. She sat up slowly.

"Coming, darling!" she called downstairs, from where an inviting waft of waffles and hot chocolate was wafting up towards the master bedroom.

Rose quickly washed and dressed, then hurried down to the kitchenette. Her husband was stood at the hob, stirring some scrambled eggs. Freya, her blonde hair pinned up in a complicated bun, was just getting a warm loaf of bread out of the Aga. She leant over to peck her husband on the cheek before sitting down and gratefully accepting some orange juice from Mina.

"Thanks, Mina," she beamed. "Do join us, by the way. Have you eaten?"  
"Yes Ma'am," replied the housekeeper with a slight smile. "But thank you."

After breakfast, Freya asked for a lift into the nearest town, Penzance. She was meeting a holidaying boy she'd managed to charm at the beach in the last few days. They wanted to get some coffee before heading down to the beach. Secretly, Rose disapproved. Freya was only 13, but she had already mastered the art of using her looks and inexplicable charm to ensnare boys and rapidly replace them when they went home. Besides, Jake was nearly fifteen. Far too old for her precious baby girl.

Rose drove Freya into town anyway. She knew that she was being silly, really.

When she got home, her husband was curled up on the sofa, reading a taxing-looking tome. Rose snuggled up to him. He smiled and put the book down.

"Well? How's my Rosie?"

"Oh, all right. Freya's just…you know. Growing up so _fast_."

He chuckled.  
"Seems like yesterday that you were willing her to grow up and leave home when she threw the birthday cake at the balloons, doesn't it?"  
"Oh God, I know. I'm just being sentimental."  
He suddenly tilted her chin.

"Rose. What's wrong?" It was more of a statement than a question.  
"Oh, it's nothing. Had a funny turn in town, that's all. I was driving up the high street when…I thought I saw…but never mind."  
"Rosie…"

She sighed.

"OK. I saw this man running along. Tall. Skinny. Pinstripe suit. Really, really big hair. He was smiling madly, tugging along this woman by the hand. I don't know why, but it just made me go all… funny. I had to pull over and do those breathing exercises."  
He pulled Rose into a hug.  
"Shh, shh. It's OK. You know you sometimes get upset. Well done for calming down. And remember, I'm always here for you."  
Rose snuggled against him.

"I love you, Harry."

**A/N: Tadaaaa! Who guessed it? Seriously, who??**

**On a side note, do you think this should move into the DW?TW crossover category? I'm not planning on doing much TW stuff when they're not involved with The Doctor. Let me know...in a review!  
**


	5. Hello Again

Angela was freezing. She'd been waiting for what felt like hours. After donning the ridiculous swimming trunks, the Doctor had made her promise not to _wonder off _before running full-pelt into the sea. Angela had rolled her eyes and made herself as comfortable as she could by spreading the Doctor's trench coat over a handy boulder.

When she finally saw a splash that announced the Doctor's return, Angela's watch read 6.15 pm. Although the sun was still quite high in the sky, the long shadows and choppy waves had seemed quite foreboding. Nevertheless, the Doctor was grinning as manically as ever when he finally flopped down on the sand beside her, dripping cold salty water all over her feet. He smiled up at her happily, but Angela wasn't in the mood for it. She sounded quite snappish when she asked

"Well? Did you find my sons?"  
He looked slightly put out.

"Err, no. But…" he added hastily. "I know where they are. Well, I say that, I mean I think I know. Well, think I know where they should be. Well, how to get there anyway."

Angela gaped, and he smiled winningly.  
"Come on!" grabbing her hand again, he tugged her back towards Penzance.

_-x-_

"Wait here!" the Doctor had said, disappearing into a battered-looking blue police call box. "Just getting some stuff."  
Angela crossed her arms and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. This man, she was quickly realising, was a walking enigma. A walking enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a question wrapped in a suit. She was just pondering this when a black four-wheel drive screeched to a halt opposite the post office on the corner. Angela blinked as five people got out with varied expressions on their face. One of them, a quite handsome-looking man dressed in some sort of Army jacket, was grinning broadly and practically bouncing on the spot. Two others, a dark-skinned man and woman, were looking vaguely happy and resigned at the same time. The last two, another man and woman, were looking quite neutral. Angela watched the handsome man hold open the door for the last two, and saw his cheeky grin as he playfully slapped the other man on the lower back. Then, to her slight confusement, Angela also saw as the final woman – a pretty petite-ish girl with a dark bob of hair and big dark eyes – brushed past him for ever-so-slightly too long as she stood up. Neither of them smiled, though Angela thought she saw them catch each others' eyes. Then the moment passed and all five of them moved on, laughing and joking. Suddenly, the handsome man – he sounded American, but Angela couldn't hear that much from where she was standing – seemed to stop on an impulse. He turned round and looked directly at Angela. She smiled uncertainly, her brow creasing. Then he started grinning ecstatically and ran to where she was half-leaning against the police box. The others followed him – he was their leader, then. When he reached Angela, he stuck out a hand with a cheeky grin.

"Captain Jack Harkness, and who are _you_?" he asked with a wink.

Angela stared him out, refusing to blush. Well, she hoped so. This prompted eye-rolls from most of the others – Angela was already thinking of them as _the team_, though she had no idea why – and one of them, the dark-skinned guy, said in a long-suffering voice

"Oh, don't start…"

Angela did smile at that, and took the Captain's offered hand.

"Angela Webber," she replied. "Sorry, but who are you exactly?"  
"Ah, no. You're missing the big question here, Angela Webber," said the Captain at that. "Y'see, the really big question – and I mean _big_ – is… why are you leaning against the TARDIS?"  
Angela gaped. She hadn't been expecting that.

"Sorry, what?"  
"The TARDIS. That big blue box. Belongs to a friend of mine – oh, and speak of the devil!"

The police box's doors creaked open, and the Doctor emerged armed with a collapsible kayak and some snorkels. For a long moment, there was silence.

Then, there was deafening noise.


	6. You Left Her Where?

**-A.N: There's some Foul Language in here. Well, it is Jack, after all. Should I put it up to M-rated? Or is it OK for T-rated? I tried avoiding it, or putting in "frigging" or something but it just looked so silly.**

**-A.N 2: By the way, this one and the last one are so far unbeta-ed. Sorry. But I wanted to move this back up to the top of the page, and I had these little scenes already written out….^^**

**-Disclaimer: Not mine**

There was deafening noise.

Angela cowered slightly as the Captain and the Doctor started jumping around each other like a pair of deranged puppies. The two dark-skinned people – whom the Doctor greeted with an ear-splitting "Martha! Mickey!" were also pulled into the hugging.

Angela caught the eye of the other woman. They exchanged Looks.

_Are they always like this?_

_Always._

After a few more minutes of madness, the Doctor started talking at a vaguely normal level again.  
"Right. Everyone, this is Angela. Angela, this is Torchwood: Captain Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper, Martha Jones and Mickety-McMickey." He said, pointing to each of them in turn.

The Doctor started to say something along the lines of _why are you here?? _But Jack was bouncing on the spot again. The Doctor turned to him with an air of "Now what?"

"Where are they? Inside the TARDIS? Can I go sneak up on them??"

"Ah." The Doctor's shoulders visibly slumped. "Right. Err, no. But…" he hurried on. "They do sell some really good chips over there."  
He strode off, clearly expecting them to follow him. Which they did.

Ten minutes later, all seven of them were sat around a table shaped like a yellow duck in the nearby playground. The Doctor, without waiting for anyone else to speak, drew a big breath in and started talking.

"Right. Now, this could be kind of really, really confusing, so _you _three-" he indicated Jack, Martha and Mickey – "Don't interrupt. So. Well... first of all, I'm the Doctor. I travel in my big blue box, fight evil, save civilisations, that sort of thing. And run an awful lot." The ghost of a smile flitted across Martha's face.

"Anyway, last summer there was that great big… thing… that happened. Dalek invasion. Very nearly the end of the world. Remember?" When Angela nodded, he carried on.

"Cut a long story short, this lot and a few others helped me – or I helped them, really, and talked a lot – to stop the Daleks. I ended up nearly dying, but I was OK 'cos I made another two of me out of a handy spare hand lying round in the TARDIS console room. No, don't interrupt. One half-human Time Lord and one biological metacrisis. The bit that this lot don't know is that the half-human me is now living, happy as can be, with the love of his life on a parallel world where they can grow old together, and the biological metacrisis has gone back to all her old memories to stop her head from exploding."  
The silence that met this was deafening.

"Sorry," muttered the Doctor. "Couldn't make that last bit sound good."

There was another silence, which Mickey eventually broke.

"You. Left. Her. _Where?"_

The Doctor reared up defensively. "Parallel world, like I said! She's happy, he's me, they can… get a mortgage together…" he trailed off. Jack laughed grimly, a short, humourless laugh.

"Oh, you fuckin' idiot," he said softly. "What the hell did you do that for?!"

The Doctor launched into a very long explanation involving several "He needs her," and "They're happy!"-style outbursts.

As far as Angela could tell, the Doctor used to travel with a girl called Rose. They were in love, but had skirted round each other for over two years. Then, "something happened" and Rose got trapped in another Universe. Last July, she had found away back. But the Doctor had sent her away again with another version of himself, who could grow old with her while she healed him. Although Angela understood the gist of this, something in her mind was resisting wildly at the casual name-dropping of concepts like aliens and space ships and time travel.

Once everything had been cleared up (ish), the Doctor suffered through a good five minutes of verbal abuse from Jack, Mickey and, to a lesser extent, Martha. Gwen and Ianto – like Angela – were looking a bit shell-shocked.

After that was over, Jack placed another awkward question into the ensuing silence.

"And Donna?"

At this, the Doctor launched into yet _another _speech. All Angela understood was the fact that Donna had been "so brilliant, for one shining moment," but had had to have all her memories of said Brilliance removed to prevent her head from melting from the pressure of having a Time Lord mind inside a human brain. Now, apparently, she was home in Chiswick, working as a temp again.

The Doctor didn't even get shouted at for that one. The whole group just sat there, stunned into silence. Even Angela felt sad. Then, Jack got up quite abruptly.

"God, you could cut the atmosphere round here with a knife. Ice cream?"

The team – and the Doctor, and Angela – cheered and they trooped en masse down to the ice cream van.

Some time later, once Ianto had run back to get another round of Twisters and 99s, all seven of them were slowly making their way down towards St Rose's Bay. The Doctor had by now explained Angela's presence, and her missing sons, to the Torchwood team. Apparently, there had been some minor "wibbly-wobbly-stuff" just off the coast from here for the last thirteen years. The Doctor liked to generally check up on things once in a while – it gave him an excuse to go to the beach once a year – and that was why he had overheard Angela that afternoon.

When Martha suggested that they took a look around the Bay, the Doctor grinned.

"I already have, Doctor Jones," he said delightedly.

"Have you now, Doctor Smith?" she replied, smiling. "And what have you found?"

The Doctor frowned. "Can't really explain. It's like a big whooshing thing. Um… like a plughole in the bathtub. Anyway, I've got a little boat thingy here, and some snorkels. I thought me and Angela here would just… let ourselves be sucked under by it. See where we end up. It's quite probably where her boys went… wanna tag along?"

Angela frowned. "Hang on. It's nearly nine o'clock. You want to walk back down to the beach _now, _and go snorkelling?"

"Good point," said the Doctor thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose we could go tomorrow…"

At this point, Jack butted in looking very pleased with himself.

"Well, we've got some wetsuits in the SUV… and who cares how far away the beach is from here??"  
When the others stared at him, nonplussed, he rolled his eyes.

"Duh! Let's fly there!"

**AN: Likey? Hatey? Sorry ****WeepingAngel123****, I didn't finish this in time yesterday.**

**Yay to DanaeMariSkywalker, a new convert to the story! Thanks for the review & favouriting!**


	7. Wilted Rose

**A.N: Yeah, this one's weird. Thanyou to DMSkywalker again, and WeepingAngel123 and Azurefalls.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. A character in this _is, _but her name's stolen and the idea isn't all that original. So...none of it's mine, really.  
**

_14 years earlier. Ish._

A Doctor grabbed Rose's hand again as they watched the TARDIS fade from view. She looked down at their clasped hands, and suddenly a song she'd heard overplayed on the radios in almost every Universe came floating through her mind.

_It felt so wrong, it felt so right…_

She smiled ever so slightly. The song fit her mood surprisingly well. OK, this Doctor wasn't a girl…but he wasn't _The _Doctor. Her Doctor. She sighed and cast her eyes towards her feet. She couldn't abandon him, she just couldn't. The Doctor was right, he needed her. So it was with a fake smile of happiness that she turned towards him…John, she decided…she turned towards John and reached up to kiss him again.

_-x-_

They did try. Rose didn't even think that he noticed that there was something wrong with her. However, he was determined to let their relationship build slowly. She was grateful for that, at least. After a month of "dating" and shy kisses, Rose decided that she'd had enough. Any hopes of the rift reopening were long diminished and tucked away in her subconscious. Anyway, she realised, she _was_ happy. John was like The Doctor in so many ways. Besides, he was the only Doctor she would ever have. So Rose formed a plan. No more holding back, no more excuses from either

Rose Tyler was going to seduce John Smith.

_-x-_

A week after their first time together, John proposed. Rose said yes, as she always knew she would. Rose had never been unrealistic. This was her best chance of happiness. And…she was very fond of John. In a way.

_-x-_

So it was that just two weeks later Rose found herself staring at a blue line. She smiled and placed a hand on her abdomen. Donna, she decided. Donna or…Mickey.

_-x-_

Rose could have kicked herself. She should have phoned John as soon as she knew, she should have run to Torchwood Tower and told him herself, she should have made a national broadcast on the TV…she shouldn't have waited.

OK, she _could _have told him as soon as he got home that evening. She _could_ have told him the next morning, or the next week…but she hadn't wanted to.

For her, this child was The Doctor's child. Not John Smith. And, above all, she wanted to tell The Doctor first.

Then, it was too late.

_-x-_

Rose got the news at three o'clock on a Sunday morning. She heard the men telling Pete and Jackie at the door, and hid under her quilt. Disembodied words and phrases floated up to her.

_Metacrisis…no idea…thought it was a migraine…intensive care…I'm sorry._

_-x-_

Rose sat at his bedside every day for three months, even though she knew there was no hope. She didn't _know_ why she knew this, she just did. But still she sat by him and talked. About Torchwood, about her brother Tony, about Jackie's plans for a swimming pool…

She never mentioned that his child was growing inside of her.

_-x-_

Her abdomen was just about small enough to still be hidden under the black mourning dress.

_-x-_

After that, Rose went into hiding. She stayed indoors or in Pete's mansion's secluded gardens, refusing to take calls or visitors. She made Jackie, Pete and Tony swear not to tell anyone. Especially not the press. Their engagement had been spread across the tabloids, and the funeral had even merited an 8-page pull-out section of the _Sun_.

Not this, as well.

_-x-_

All too soon, the months had flown by and the private midwives held the tiny bundle of screaming life out for Rose to hold. She heard them telling her that it was a girl, and smiled slightly.

Donna.

_-x-_

Five days later, Rose told Pete and Jackie that she was taking Donna to see the Health Visitor. Instead, she boarded a train to the zeppelin docks. The next flight to Oslo left in just over an hour.

_-x-_

She stood on the sands, the sky grey and foreboding. Rose Tyler had died twice already at this beach. This time, it would be easy. Like in a trance, Rose took off her shoes and began walking into the sea. She didn't stop.

_-x-_

As the water lapped around the screaming infant's neck, Rose looked at her daughter and nearly turned back. Then she plunged downwards.

_-x-_

Rose was nearly out of breath. She pressed the already limp body of her daughter to her chest. Then, there was a flash of gold.

_-x-_

Gods don't die.

And they don't live.

They go to Hell.

**A.N: Well? _Too _weird?**


	8. In Memoriam

**A.N: This one is very timey-wimey. And I **_**so **_**love writing for the Doctor and Donna. They are such perfect soulmates. In a completely non-romantic way. Obviously.**

**Disclaimer: Still not mine… _ **

Every week or so – it really was hard keeping track of time in that blue box of his – the Doctor took Donna on a short sidetrip.  
He never told her where they were going – in fact, those flights were probably the quietest he ever was. Donna was only guessing that it was the same place every time,  
Once the TARDIS had landed – materialised – stopped, whatever, the Doctor would throw on his overcoat, select a single burnt orange rose-shaped flower, and tell Donna to "stay put" before striding outside with an expressionless face, save for the jutting jaw and dark eyes.  
Donna didn't really mind. The spaceman was entitled to his little secret Martian rituals or whatever it was, and it gave her a chance to have a long, lazy bath or watch some stupid reality TV show.  
But this time was different. The Doctor had shaken her awake in the middle of the night (was it night? Bloody TARDIS. She was asleep, anyway.) and told her to get dressed. He flew the TARDIS in deathly silence, ignoring her incessant questions and jibes completely. When he finally landed and picked up the by now all-too familiar burnt orange rose, Donna understood. Tentatively, she sought his face with her eyes.  
"Doctor… where are we?"  
The muscle was jutting in his jaw again.  
"I need to visit my friend."  
"Can I come with you?" He looked at her in surprise. She hurried on. "Y'know. Hand to hold, shoulder to cry on. Not literally, but you know. Doctor, I'm not stupid. 'I'm fine' doesn't cut it with me."  
The Doctor chewed his lip for a bit, then turned abruptly on his heels. When he reached the door, he turned again.  
"Well, come on then!"

-x-

The planet was shrouded in must and silence. Donna couldn't hear a single bird, or even a tree's leaves rustling in the wind. The Doctor strode on, coat tails flapping in the wind, hands in pockets. She hurried after him. What was this place?

-x-

After about fifteen minutes of walking in silence, they reached a small pile of what looked like white dust. The Doctor stood by it for a minute, then added his flower to the festering pile of them already heaped up at the front. He whispered  
"I'm sorry," and turned to go. They walked on, Donna eventually taking his hand. He hung on tightly and she squeezed his hand sympathetically.  
"Doctor… who was it?" She had, by now, worked out what the pile of white dust had been.  
"A friend, at first," replied the Doctor, running one hand through his already wild hair. "Then, an enemy. S'my fault he's dead though. I thought I was the last one, then I found him, right at the end of reality itself! We should have stuck together, we were all we had left! But…he didn't listed. Refused to listen. Now I'm the last one again." His shoulders slumped. Donna squeezed his hand again.  
"You're not alone, though," she said quietly. "You've got me."  
"Yeah," said the Doctor, and smiled. "I know."

From then on, the Doctor took her along every week. She'd add a blue rose to his orange ones, and then they'd walk and talk, about life, the Universe and everything.

-x-

After what had happened on Midnight, the Doctor seemed even more depressed than usual. Donna suggested a fun trip – they never did make it to the beaches with intelligent sand – but the Doctor wanted to visit his Friend again.  
When they opened the doors of the TARDIS, Donna knew instantly that something was wrong. Smoke filled the lifeless air and the unmistakable deadly orange of flames flared in the distance.  
The Doctor stood stock still. Then he hared back into the TARDIS. Donna paused, wondering what to do and what the hell was going on, when the TARDIS started dematerialising.

-x-

"No! Oh nonononononono!" The Doctor ran around the console room in a state of shock. Stupid, stupid TARDIS! She'd done it again – 12 hours into the past, he'd said. Not 12 months. This wasn't good. The other him couldn't - couldn't – see him or even his TARDIS.  
Once they were safely parked in Tottenham Court Road, the Doctor realised who he'd left behind.  
Oh, brilliant.

-x-

Donna ran around, panicking. Bloody, bloody, spaceman! What the hell was she going to do now?  
Then she saw him. The Doctor, holding a burning torch, walking away from a still glowing plie of wood and ashes. Then she understood. The Doctor had told her about the time when he'd accidentally taken Rose to meet her past self, and how that had nearly ended in a huge meltdown of everything. They'd landed in the wrong time or something.

Once the Other Doctor had left in his TARDIS, Donna went to look at the pile of ashes she knew so well. Something caught her eye – a ring. She picked it up slowly, staring at it. It was engraved with what she guessed was a Gallifreyan symbol – a sort of triangle with a circle and a line down the mddle of it. She was about to slip it on when she heard the unmistakable "Vworp-Vworp" of the TARDIS. Donna ducked instantly – she didn't want to cause a paradox or anything – when she heard the Doctor's voice.  
"Donna? Donna?!"  
She ran towards him, stuffing the ring into her pocket and hugging him tightly.  
"Oh, you stupid prawn. You great, big, skinny 'nana. Don't you EVER do that to me again, you hear me?!"

-x-

The Doctor took her to the famous market of Shan-Shen to make up for it. And then, what with one thing or another, Donna somehow never had time to worry about the ring again.

**A.N: There are THREE Harry Potter references in this chapter…I am not turning this into a crossover, but they were just irresistible ^_^**

**Review and tell me if you spotted them!**


	9. Day After Day

**AN: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack  
Sorry for the epic wait. First I was in Mourn-Ianto mode after CoE. Then I was away for a few days, and when I got back I was too lazy too type up anything, then I went away on summer holidays with no interweb, then I was stressing about College Enrolment, then I started College....sorry if you've been waiting long, guys.**

**Disclaimer: Mine. No, really. Well...oh, ok ,you got me

* * *

**

Donna had an interview. It was only another temping job – a month typing up an audit of another victim of the recession – but she had been going through a "dry spell" for a while now. Anyway. last week she'd found Mum up at two in the morning, head inb hands, staring at a pile of bills. Donna wanted to do her bit - just yesterday, Gramps had offered to pawn his telescope _again_, and sulked when they wouldn't let him.  
She turned right at the intersection, heading for Jival Chowdry's failing business. She crossed her fingers as she walked into the vaguely derelict office block and headed for the main desk with her best confident hire-me-you-know-you-want-to smile in place.

-x-

As she left the office, Donna could have hit something – preferably Mr. Chowdry. There was a cold, brisk breeze in the November air, and she nstuck her hands as deep into the pockets of her coat as she could. In doing so, her fingers brushed against something cold. Donna wiggled the coat around until she brought out a heavy-looking ring: a dark green stone set in gold.  
Funny. She couldn't remember where she got that from. There was something odd about it – trying to rasck her brains for the memories started giving her a headache, and in the end she decided that it must have been there for ages – she hadn't worn tis coat in a while, after all – and headed back home. She put the ring on, though. It looked classy.

-x-

Somewhere, lost in the fabric of Nothing, something was stirring.

-x-

Over the next week, Donna grew increasingly short-tempered and aggravated. When the headache got so bad she couldn't get out of bed one morning, she called it a migraine and stayed in bed for a few days.

_-x-_

This cycle continued for a while – Donna kept waering the ring, and kept starting to feel emotionally drained and headachy after a week or so; after taking to bed for a few days, the whole thing would start again.

_-x-_

Somewhere, in the fabric between Nothing, someone was waking.

_-x-_

Eventually, Donna managed to find a two-week job dressed up as an Elf in a shopping centre. The pay was crap, the work was crap, and even though the centre gave them lunch and dinner, she was sick of mince pies and mulled wine after a few hours. By 8 pm on Christmas Eve, she was ready to go home and sleep for days. But the other Elves, Santa 1, 2 and 4, and two of the Rudolphs managed to persuade her to come to a house party "just for a few drinks..."  
She should have known it was a bad idea.

The next morning (or was it afternoon?) she surfaced slowly, curled up on a third of the couch. As she was getting dressed and trying not to wince at every whisper, she realised that her fingers were bare. She vaguely remembered dropping it in the toilet at one point, and the hilarity that had ensued when she and three others tried to get it back. She felt annoyed for a while – it had been a good ring – until the effort of being angry was too much. She shrugged on a coat and left, going back to her life, day after day.

_-x-_

It was too late.  
In the fabric of Nothing and Everything, the Master had almost enough strength to wake up.  
And when Rose Tyler came hurtling into his existence, a plan started to form.

* * *

**AN: Ooooh, the next chapter is gonna be creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy....**


End file.
